Gallium-67 scanning in the diagnosis of postoperative sternal osteomyelitis: concise communication

Journal Article · Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1983 · J. Nucl. Med.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5335226

Salit, I E; Detsky, A S; Simor, A E; Weisel, R D; Feiglin, D

Sternal osteomyelitis is an uncommon but serious complication of the median sternotomy incision. Definite diagnosis is clinically difficult and radionuclide scanning is of uncertain value in the early postoperative period. A prospective blind study of gallium scanning was conducted in the early period after caridac surgery and clinically diagnosed cases that also had scans were reviewed. Clinical status and scan interpretation were each independently assessed by three raters. Thirty-eight scans included six true positives, five true negatives (no sternotomy) and 27 post-sternotomy, clinically uninfected patients. Using categories of high, medium and low for scan interpretation, the radiologic assessors agreed 90% of the time. Normal postoperative Ga-67 uptake could usually be differentialted from uptake by an infected sternum. The test had a sensitivity of 83% and specificity of 96%. This study of observer variation and validity indicates that Ga-67 scanning may be useful in confirming the diagnosis of poststernotomy sternal osteomyelitis.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• OSTI ID: 5335226
• Journal Information: J. Nucl. Med.; (United States), Vol. 24:11
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
GALLIUM 67
SCINTISCANNING
OSTEOMYELITIS
DIAGNOSIS
SKELETON
PATIENTS
SURGERY
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BODY
COUNTING TECHNIQUES
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES
DISEASES
ELECTRON CAPTURE RADIOISOTOPES
GALLIUM ISOTOPES
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
MEDICINE
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ORGANS
RADIOISOTOPE SCANNING
RADIOISOTOPES
SKELETAL DISEASES
550601* - Medicine- Unsealed Radionuclides in Diagnostics